SECTION II: VAR. NEGLECTA 97 



given to a lower grade bani, with a strain of the present plant (by 

 hybridisation), but recently pure var. neglecta has been called jarl. 

 In Bengal, Assam, and the United Provinces this is deshi or desi 

 cotton, and in some localities has specific names, such as kherdya 

 of Lohardagga, &c., and a special race, the famous ' Dacca cottons.' 

 The idea of recent introduction confirms, in some measure, the story 

 told above, under var. sanguinea, and presently to be upheld under 

 var. rosea (see Plates Nos. 10, 11 and 12). 



A large pyramidal bush, chiefly grown as a field crop, though some- Descrip- 

 times hardly more than 18 inches in height. Stems very often reddish- tion. 

 coloured (especially so in the finer grades of Dacca cotton). Leaves some- 

 what leathery, but rather thin, though coarse -looking, and often rigid and 

 the lobes furrowed and corrugated ; lobes 3-5-7, with the supplementary 

 teeth often within the sinuses appearing on the base of the central lobe > 

 lobes linear-lanceolate, undulate, the bottom pair spreading square or almost 

 backwards, acute, rarely bristle-tipped, densely coated with long spreading 

 hairs, with below these a coating also of stellate hairs. Inflorescence short 

 lateral shoots, 2-4-flowered. Flowers mostly two together on very short 

 pedicels, yellow with purple centres, or yellow to white with a purple tinge, 

 often never fully expanded, convolute. Bracteoles very large, with greatly 

 developed lateral (basal) ears, ovate-acute, toothed, more than half the 

 length of the corolla. Fruit (boll) ovate -acuminate, 3-4-celled. Seeds small, 

 beaked, with a brownish or greenish fuzz and a large quantity of coarse, 

 harsh, woolly, and very short staple. (See Plate No. 11, which reproduces 

 [Roxburgh's MS. plate the most prevalent type of Bengal cotton, and confer 

 also with var. rosea below.) 



Habitat. Cultivated throughout Bengal, Assam, and the United India. 

 Provinces, less abundant in South India and Burma, distributed by 

 cultivation to China, Africa, the West Indies, and the United States. 

 The names given to this plant, and the traditions of the people of 

 India regarding it, suggest its having originated in the drier tracts 

 of the Gangetic basin. Becently it has been carried to all the 

 regions where the perennial cottons (presumably of G. Nanking 

 origin) formerly prevailed, and the unfortunate demand for a short, g^ort 

 cheap, staple has even occasioned its cultivation in Gujarat and cheap 

 Kathiawar the home of what may be characterised as the long- 

 stapled cottons of India. 



Citation of Specimens. The following characteristic specimens can be 

 seen in Kew and other Herbaria : INDIA (enumerated from north to south) : 

 Duthie, Tirah Exped., 1897; also Ushtarzai, n. 20,826; Jameson, n. 15, 

 Amballa, 1849; katel cotton of Akola, grown in Saharanpur, Bot. Gard., 

 in 1891 ; belaiti cotton, from Amraoti, grown at Saharanpur ; Monro, n. 73, 

 from Hazara; Duthie, Kheri district, n. 21,604; Herb. Ind. Or., Hook. f. 

 and T. T., Moradabad, 1844 (a very hairy example) ; Koyle, G. arboreum 



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